Census 2021 - Veterans in the UK and Wales Report

03 February 2023

The 2021 Census captured information about UK armed forces veterans in England and Wales. This is in addition to the high-level Census 2021 estimates for UK Armed Forces veterans published on 10 November 2022.

This latest release shows numbers of UK armed forces veterans in England and Wales by age, where people were born, the passports they held, religion, ethnic group, general health, and legal partnership status. Comparisons to the non-veteran population have also been provided along with adjusted estimates that account for the differing demographics of the veteran population as compared to the non-veteran population.

Lieutenant-General Sir Andrew Gregory, KBE, CB, DL said: “Tracking numbers of veterans has always been challenging and these statistics provide an extremely useful snapshot and insight into the total population and distribution of Armed Forces veterans throughout England and Wales. We will have an even more complete picture in the coming months when Scotland’s census data is published.

“Until now we have had to make informed estimates in order to plan our UK-wide resourcing. We will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Defence and the Office for Veterans Affairs as the full picture and implications of these statistics become clear.”